The preparation and exfoliation of graphite oxide at low temperatures (near room temperature) to produce exfoliated graphite (EG) instead of rapid heating to a high temperature (conventional process) are reviewed. The exfoliation by microwave irradiation, electrochemical exfoliation and surfactant-assisted exfoliation of graphite are also included because these techniques can be applied under ambient atmosphere, although last two techniques were mainly applied for thinning the graphite flakes to obtain “graphene” flakes. The applications of the resultant exfoliated graphite (EG) for oil/water separation, adsorptive removal of the environment pollutants and microwave shielding are shortly reviewed.

    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Exfoliation (thinning) of graphite
        2.1 Exfoliation at a low temperature
        2.2 Exfoliation with microwave irradiation
        2.3 Electrochemical exfoliation (thinning)
        2.4 Surfactant-assisted exfoliation (thinning)
    3 Applications
        3.1 Fabrication of graphite films and macroporous blocks
        3.2 Oilwater separation
        3.3 Adsorptive removal of dyes
        3.4 Antimicrobial activity
        3.5 Microwave shielding
    4 Concluding remarks
        4.1 Mechanism of low temperature exfoliation
    References

• Masahiro Toyoda(Faculty of Science and Technology, Oita University)
• Shiyu Hou(State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University)
• Zheng‑Hong Huang(State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University)
• Michio Inagaki(Professor Emeritus, Hokkaido University)